Come On Get Higher
by uptown
Summary: She could feel those eyes burning holes in her back as her heels clacked against the marble of the office’s lobby, her subconscious teasing her the whole way. Clack. Clack. Clack. Troy. Loves. You.


Songfic to Matt Nathanson's _Come On Get Higher_

_Super_ cheesy. But admit it. You love the lemon.

* * *

"Don't you _fucking_ lie to me, Troy Bolton." Sharpay was struggling to remain calm. It was two days before the annual Christmas party and she had walked in on Troy, her _boyfriend_ Troy, kissing that slut Maggie from advertising. What a Christmas present, right? She was fuming, on the edge of tears, ignoring every rebuttal Troy was tossing at her.

"Shar-"

"Don't_ Shar_ me- cheater."

Troy sucked in a rugged breath, running both of his hands through his shaggy brown hair. It had been two minutes since Sharpay walked into the board office, where his co-worker Maggie had corner him against the coffee machine and attacked him by means of kissing. It had barely lasted three seconds before Troy had managed to push her far enough. After the exchange of some of Troy's most colorful vocabulary he had practically ran out of the room and straight into Sharpay, who had seen the kiss as she was passing back the glass window-bordered office.

Sharpay blinked back the tears. She didn't think she could speak any more without her voice cracking. The way Troy was looking at her was twisting her stomach around. He looked like a little boy who'd just lost his dog, and Sharpay couldn't tell if it was an act or not. Her emotions were clouding her common sense.

"Do you like her?"

Troy's eyes widened at the assumption. "Maggie?"

"No Troy, my mother. YES, fucking Maggie."

"How can you think that?"

"Because I just saw you two making out. And you've still yet to answer my ques-"

"No Sharpay. I do not like Maggie. In any way, shape, or-"

"Funny way to show it."

Troy swallowed the lump in his throat. He didn't know what to say to make it better. All he wanted was to kiss away the tear that had just escaped her glassy eyes.

"I don't know what to say, Sharpay."

Sharpay looked at Troy, cursing herself for letting him see her cry. She took a deep breath. "Well call me when you do."

And with that she brushed past him, and walked away. She didn't look back. She knew if she did she would cave at the sight of his bright blue eyes and run back into his arms. She could feel those eyes burning holes in her back as her heels clacked against the marble of the office's lobby, her subconscious teasing her the whole way.

Clack. Clack. Clack.

Troy. Loves. You.

_I miss the sound of your voice  
And I miss the rush of your skin  
And I miss the still of the silence  
As you breathe out and I breathe in_

There were two days left until the Christmas party and Troy was driving home from the office. The office he and Sharpay had taken interning jobs for the same company so that they could be together. He drummed his hands against the steering wheel impatiently. He hated having Sharpay mad at him. He remembered the day they got the job. They had pinned the them against one another to see if they could find out which of them wanted the job more, saying there was only one position available-when really there was eight. He and Sharpay had gotten the job of course, along with Maggie. Troy scratched the back of his neck, smiling despite himself as the day's conversation unfolded in his mind…

"They said you told them I didn't have enough creativity to be in marketing." Sharpay had said. Her hands were on her hips as she addressed Troy.

"Why would I say that?"

"Why wouldn't you. You'd get the internship position. You're a very driven person, Troy."

"Well so are you. So why shouldn't I think you just sold me out in there?"

"I'm not driven in the sense that I would tell lies about my boyfriend to get an exclusive barely minimum wage-paying internship."

"Not even if this was a well-paid internship?"

Sharpay bit back a smile, crossing her arms in front of her. "No."

Troy smirked, taking a step towards her. "Shar-"

"Don't Shar me. I'm mad at you." Sharpay kept her arms folded across her chest as Troy wrapped his arms around her shoulder, holding her tight against his chest.

"I love you." Troy mumbled, his face nestled in Sharpay's hair.

"I'm sure."

"And I would never sell you out."

"Lie."

"Truth." Troy pulled back slightly, releasing a hand to lift up Sharpay's chin so that she was looking at him. "What do you want me to say?" Sharpay kept silent as she looked up at Troy. "Sharpay. I would never tell a lie about you. I would never do anything, _anything_, that would put me at risk of loosing you."

"You'd find a new girlfriend in a second."

"I don't want anyone but you. When I'm not with you I miss you. The sound of your voice, the rush of your skin…" This, Troy noticed, caused Sharpay's lips to turn up ever so slightly. "And those moments where neither of us is talking. And all you can hear besides the silence is you breathing out and me breathing in."

"Alright, sweet talker." Sharpay let the smile overtake her. "You promise you didn't say anything bad about me?"

Troy grinned, leaning down to meet her lips. He let the kiss linger, leaning his forehead against hers. "I swear."

As Troy rolled up to a red light he let his head fall back against the headrest. Back then it had been so easy. He knew the right thing to say to get her to believe him. And he definitely wouldn't have let her walk away. He took a deep breath. _I am such an idiot_.

_If I could walk on water  
If I could tell you what's next  
I'd make you believe  
I'd make you forget_

There were two days left until the Christmas party and Sharpay was sitting on the couch in her living room. The minute she had gotten home she had collapsed on the couch. And forty-three minutes later she had yet to move an inch. She couldn't handle being in a fight with Troy. Everything she would normally be doing right now involved Troy. They would have come home from work to her apartment and ordered some kind of take out-something they did every Monday and Wednesday. They would turn on the TV and snuggle on the couch. And right about now, had Sharpay not been an accusing idiot, her lips would be on his and one of his hands would be tangled between her neck and her hair while the other would be on her lower back, pressing her close.

Sharpay buried her face further into the small couch pillow. She could faintly smell Troy's shampoo. She wrapped her arms around her pillow, moving for the first time as she let the scent torment her. _I am such an idiot_.

_So come on, get higher, loosen my lips  
Faith and desire and the swing of your hips  
Just pull me down hard  
And drown me in love  
So come on, get higher, loosen my lips  
Faith and desire and the swing of your hips  
Just pull me down hard  
And drown me in love_

There was one day left until the Christmas party and Troy was rolling up the sleeves of his light blue dress shirt. He was sitting opposite Sharpay in the board office, trying not to look up at her as they categorized client files. Every once in a while she would hold out a packet of papers to him, and he would take them. But she never once looked directly at him, and never once did their fingers accidentally brush against one another. Troy kept his eyes glued to the names typed across the top margin of each packet of papers as he stacked them in neat piles.

_I miss the sound of your voice  
Loudest thing in my head  
And I ache to remember  
All the violent, sweet  
Perfect words that you said_

There was one day left until the Christmas party and Sharpay was locked in the board office with Troy. Well, the door wasn't really locked, but it sure felt like it. She tried her hardest to avoid skin contact with Troy as she passed him files. If she felt that spark she felt every time he touched her, she was sure that she would cave in and climb across the table into his arms. But she was staying strong. She was waiting for some sort of grand gesture from Troy that would show her how much he cared. Like he used to do. Like the time he stole the microphone at the beach party, when he'd declared to a crowd of people that he was in love with her for the first time.

Sharpay bit her lip. Troy's voice was echoing loud in her head. She held out another file to Troy, allowing herself to take a peak at him through her lashes. But as he took the packet from her hand, he never once looked up at her. She did, however, see him swallow a lump in his throat- like he wanted to say something, but he was holding back. She spread a pile in front of her, aching to remember the violently sweet words he had said. They had been so romantic and spur of the moment. The perfect words he said that day came flooding into her mind.

"Excuse me, can I borrow this?" Troy's voice was muffled in the microphone as he turned to talk to the DJ. "Uh, sure?" The DJ had said as he lowered the volume of the music pouring out of the speakers.

"Uh, 'scuse me." Troy had said into the microphone. Some people stopped and looked up at him, while others simply began talking loudly to their dance partners, "YO."

As Troy's voice echoed out of the speakers, the giant group of bikini clad girls and board short clad guys turned their attention towards the shaggy brunette on stage.

"Uh, hi. This'll only take a second, don't worry." He started, looking down at Sharpay. He stuck out his arm and pointed to her. "You see that girl right there? Short. Blonde. Hot." A few people in the crowd laughed as they looked at Sharpay. She blushed, crossing her arms over her chest. "Well, you see, we're having a bit of a dilemma. You see Sharpay, that's her name if you're slow, thinks we don't share mutual feelings. She says that she really really really- Four reallys, right?" Troy counted off the reallys on his fingers, raising an eyebrow at Sharpay. She nodded in response. "_Really_ likes me. And I said that I like her more than that. But she doesn't believe me. So I'm thinking- what better way to prove to a person…"

When he trailed off, he looked right into Sharpay's eyes. She stared back nervously, and he grinned. "That you love them-" The entire crowd erupted in 'awhs' at that. "-than to publicly announce it in front of a hundred strangers on a microphone? Now, Sharpay, love, for your listening pleasure, I've asked the DJ to play a little song. Hope you guys don't mind slowing it down for a few minutes." Troy looked back at the DJ, who flipped a switch on his control board and sent a slower melody out of the speakers. Sharpay recognized it as Matt Nathanson's 'Come On Get Higher'. _Their_ song. As Troy walked back off the stage, people stared lovingly as he weaved his way through the throng of people to Sharpay.

"You love me, huh?" Sharpay said as Troy came to a halt in front of her.

"I love you."

"I love you, too."

Troy smirked. "I love you mp-" Sharpay had cut him off by jumping up, her arms curling around his neck tightly as his arms caught her around the back. Sharpay was in between struggling on her tip toes and being held up in the air by Troy as they kissed. She was so ridiculously happy and in love she was practically drowning in all of it.

Sharpay stopped filing through the masses in front of her and put an elbow on the large desk, resting her forehead in the palm of her hand. She couldn't see Troy secretly peering up at her worriedly.

"Troy?" A voice called from the doorway.

Sharpay's head shot up to see Maggie leaning a hand against the door frame. Sharpay looked over to see that Troy was rifling through papers as if she wasn't even there. She was sure that her eyes were radiating beams of hate right now. After all, Maggie was the reason she was in this mess of a predicament.

"What Maggie." Troy said. His voice was flat and inside Sharpay was smiling in approval.

"I'm going to lunch, and I was wondering if you wanted to come."

"Sharpay and I have to finish categorizing. Sorry." Hearing the words _Sharpay and I_ come off Troy's tongue was like torture for Sharpay. She looked back at Troy, at the same moment he was looking up at her. He only looked for a second, but Sharpay read the emotions in his eyes. There was regret. There was discomfort. And there was pain. And his blue eyes in pain were the worst sight in the world. All Sharpay wanted to do was go back in time and believe him, and make him forget she ever doubted him.

_If I could walk on water  
If I could tell you what's next  
I'd make you believe  
I'd make you forget_

It was the day of the Christmas party and Troy was haphazardly tying a green tie around his neck. He didn't even know why he was going tonight. He hadn't wanted to go in the first place, but Sharpay had insisted. His only motivation now was seeing Sharpay.

_So come on, get higher, loosen my lips  
Faith and desire and the swing of your hips  
Just pull me down hard  
And drown me in love  
So come on, get higher, loosen my lips  
Faith and desire and the swing of your hips  
Just pull me down hard  
And drown me in love_

It was the day of the Christmas party and Sharpay was wrapping a section of her hair into a curling iron. She sighed as she looked at the small picture taped onto the large mirror of her vanity. It was of her and Troy at her aunt's wedding. She loved the tacky-but-cute-relationship vibe it gave off. She remembered how she had to force Troy into getting it taken. She smiled to herself as she recalled the conversation

"Sharpay, you know I don't like getting my picture taken." Troy had said, standing his ground as Sharpay tried to pull him towards one of her relatives so that they could take their picture.

"We take pictures together all the time."

"Yeah, but that's when you're the one who's taking them."

"Don't be such a baby."

Sharpay stopped tugging his hand and tapped the shoulder of one of her younger cousins. "Take me and Troy's picture, will you?" She held out her digital camera to the young girl, who looked through the little square lense instead of just using the small picture viewer.

"Shar, I-" Troy started as she sauntered back to him.

"Shar nothing. It'll be quick and painless, I promise." Sharpay laughed, resting a hand on Troy's chest and she reached up to capture his lips in a kiss at the exact moment the little girl had decided to capture the picture.

Sharpay ran her fingers over the picture. Troy was all she wanted right now. Their current separation was neither quick or painless.

_I miss the pull of your heart  
I taste the sparks on your tongue  
I see angels and devils  
And God, when you come on  
Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on_

Troy was at the Christmas party, sitting at the interns table, alone, dressed in his black suit. The other six interns, including Maggie, had paired off and made their way to the dance floor where Matt Nathanson's 'Come On Get Higher' was floating from the speakers. It was like the DJ was torturing him. He was miserable. He didn't want to be here- but Sharpay's words in his mind had convinced him. She was the only reason he was where he was. He had gotten dressed up in hopes that Sharpay would be here, and they could talk. But half an hour in, she had yet to arrive.

_Sing sha la la la  
Sing sha la la la la_

Sharpay was at the Christmas party, walking up the stairs that led to the large dining hall the company had booked for the occasion, alone, dressed in a strapless, floor length, form-fitting gown. She had avoided the color red while choosing a dress, knowing that Maggie the Ho-Ho-Hoe would be wearing it. Instead she opted for a deep emerald, in hopes that Troy, green being his favorite color, would have chosen to wear a green tie with his suit. He was the only reason she was here. She could hear their song coming from the speakers, and immediately wondered what he was doing. She had talked him into coming- one reason being that she wanted to show him off. And not just looks wise. Because when Troy Bolton got into gentleman mode he was like a knight in shining armor. She had purposely shown up half an hour late so that when she walked in, Troy would be there…if he hadn't changed his mind about coming.

_Ooo_

Troy leaned back in his seat and looked up. That's when he saw her.

_Ooo_

Sharpay watched the stairs as she descended them. As she neared the bottom she looked up. That's when she saw him.

_Ooo..._

Troy pushed himself out of his chair. He took in her appearance as she walked down the staircase. She looked amazing. Breath-taking, even. And when she looked up her eyes immediately met his and Troy had to take a deep breath to steady himself. He walked forward, weaving through crowds of people while never removing his gaze from hers. He watched as she took a few steps towards him, and by the time he reached her she was at the edge of the dance floor.

Sharpay couldn't help herself from melting into a little puddle when she looked into his eyes. The green of hi tie brought out the small flecks of green in his eyes, making his blue irises look even brighter. She walked towards him slowly as he maneuvered through the dance floor. She stood at the edge, waiting for him to come to a stop about a foot in front of her.

_So come on, get higher, loosen my lips  
Faith and desire and the swing of your hips  
Just pull me down hard  
And drown me in love  
So come on, get higher, loosen my lips  
Faith and desire and the swing of your hips  
Just pull me down hard  
And drown me, drown me in love_

"Troy I-" "Shar-" Their words came out at the same time, and Sharpay smiled.

"I was an idiot." She stated simply.

"I was a bigger idiot."

"How do you figure?"

"I stood there and let you walk away from me."

"Well, I stood there and accused you of willingly making out with a bimbo."

"Yeah, that was pretty stupid." Sharpay scoffed and Troy grinned. "I love you, Shar."

It felt like a thousand years since she had heard Troy say those words. It was such a shock that her eyes welled up and- thank god for waterproof mascara, a tear trailed down her cheek.

"Oh, come on. None of that." Troy whispered, closing the distance in between them. He kissed the cheek that had the tear trailing down it, his arms immediately encircling her shoulders in a squeeze.

"Troy," Sharpay sniffed, her arms reaching around his back and up towards his shoulders. "Nothing works when I'm not in your arms."

Troy wrapped his arms a little tighter around her shoulder, keeping his chin resting lightly on top of her head. Even with heels, she was about two inches short of making full eye contact with him. "Now who's the sweet talker?"

She smiled, pressing her cheek against his chest. "Never let me walk away again."

_It's all wrong, it's all wrong  
It's all wrong, it's so right  
So come on, get higher  
So come on and get higher  
'Cause everything works, love  
Everything works in your arms._

"Never."


End file.
